


Newfound obsessions and revelations

by IoccasionallyWriteStories



Category: Be More Chill - Iconis/Tracz
Genre: A musical takes place, Getting Together, His friends weigh in, I waited days for my ao3 invitation so please give this a shot, M/M, Michael has a YouTube channel, Michael tries to survive, Oblivious Jeremy, Rich Goranski is a good singer, Subconscious Flirting, Unintentionally flirty Jeremy, is Jeremiah Heere a furry?, pining gays
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-21
Updated: 2018-05-21
Packaged: 2019-05-09 18:00:52
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,498
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14720927
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IoccasionallyWriteStories/pseuds/IoccasionallyWriteStories
Summary: “Dude, listen to this!" While Michael is just trying to enjoy his sandwich, Jeremy pushes his earphones enthusiastically into his best friends ear. "It's so good!"Now curious, he listens to the music that has Jeremy so hyped up and blanches when he hears his own voice singing some kind of pop song someone commissioned him. Meanwhile Jeremy babbles on, expressing his love for the YouTube artist, not realizing that that Youtuber in question is sitting right next to him, hoping that Jeremy will never notice the obvious similarities in the voices.Aka Jeremy is obsessed with a singer on YouTube. This youtuber is actually Michael who gets money because of his views and commissions. I wanted to put this part in the fic but it didn’t end up in it. It’s a nice summary though. :) Anyways, enjoy.





	Newfound obsessions and revelations

"So close to reaching that famous happy end  
Almost believing this one's not pretend  
And now you're beside me and look how far we've come  
So far we are, so close"

If he could like a video more than once, Jeremy Heere would absolutely bestow at least a gazillion likes upon LilRedHood's newest video. The video was uploaded today and the sheer amount of emotion the singer had put into this song, was astonishing. It was as though LilRedHood was familiar with hoping for a happy ending and not getting it, yet accepting the unfortunate ending anyway. 

LilRedHood is a YouTube channel that he found by accident (he was searching for a song from a musical and the singer had uploaded a wonderful cover of the song) and after watching three videos he was obsessed. He learned that the singer himself never choose songs to cover, but people could commission him for a pretty cheap price and he would gladly upload their song of choice onto his channel. His low prices, fast working speed and excellent vocals gave him an audience that was more than willing to spend a few bucks to hear their favourite song be sung by LilRedHood and if Jeremy wasn't broke, he probably would have done the same thing.

Another interesting aspect of the youtuber, was the fact that no one knew who exactly he was. In none of his videos was his face to be seen, nor objects that could be used to identify the male. In a q&a he had revealed that he was a male, that he attended high school and that he was a huge geek. Jeremy had probably watched that one video more than the amount that was considered healthy. Well, who could blame him?

The next day, the song was still stuck in his head and Jeremy softly sang the lyrics under his breath, trying to put the same heartbreaking acceptance in his voice as LilRedHood had, although he didn't quite succeed in doing so. He kept trying and and in the hallway he got stopped by Christine. "Good morning Jeremy! What are you singing? And why are you singing? Not that it's bad, of course not, but I mean, you're usually so shy and you stutter a lot yet here you are, singing in the hallway, although you do sing in play rehearsal so-" Gently he tapped on Christine's shoulder to stop her word vomit. She looked up with a confused look on her face and he knew she was trying to remember what they were talking about before and he took it upon himself to piece the story back together. "I'm listening to a new singer I found on YouTube. He has an amazing voice and also a few musical songs, so maybe you would like his name?" Christine jokingly put on an extremely critical expression and stroked her chin. "Hm... I don't know Jer. Do you think he can live up to my impossibly high musical standards?" Smiling he shook his head and placed his hand on his forehead in a dramatic fashion. "Oh no, of course not. No mortal could ever please the wishes of Christine, queen of plays and musicals. We peasants can only hope to not disappoint you to much, your majesty." He curtsied and Christine giggled. A new voice joined their conversation . "I heard the word majesty and came as soon as I was called." While she was talking, Chloe threw her hair over one shoulder and winked playfully at the both of them. "I just kinda followed." Brooke admitted and waved as a way of greeting. "What were you guys talking about?" Before Jeremy could answer, a tiny, annoying dwarf did it for him. Rich, who seemingly came out of nowhere, piped up. "Probably Jeremy's new crush. A faceless youtuber who happens to be able to sing." Jeremy rolled his eyes and gave Rich the finger. "Shut up Rich, it's not a crush. I don't even know what he looks like and I just really like his voice." A massive grin spread itself on Rich's face and Jeremy knew he was in trouble. "So beside being a furry, you've also got a voice kink." Jeremy groaned in embarrassment and hid his face in his hands, wishing to unhear that sentence. To make the matter worse, Jake, who had just arrived, only heard the last sentence of the whole conversation. "I didn't know you had a voice kink Jeremy. When did that start?" Jeremy furrowed his brow and crossed his arms. "The voice thing is what you're asking about? Shouldn't you be more concerned that Rich thinks I'm a furry?" Sympathetically Jake put his hand on Jeremy's shoulder and shook his head. "Oh dear Jeremy we all know you are a furry." The rest of the group nodded dutifully and Jeremy let out a strangled noise. "I'm not a furry!" He squeaked and saw that none of his friends believed him. He almost lost hope and then Michael entered the school building.

They immediately made eye contact and Jeremy's face lit up. A smile spread on his face and he frantically waved Michael over. 'My saviour has come', he thought and he called out to his best friend. "Hey Michael, I'm not a furry, right?" Jeremy saw the moment of his own doom happening right before his eyes. He saw Michael tensing up, his warm brown eyes scanning Jeremy's blue ones for a split second and then he looked away, a guilty look forming on his face. Michael winced and instead of going towards the group he took a step back. Jeremy's hope disappeared as snow before the sun. "M-michael? Buddy? C-c-c'mon don't leave me hanging here..." Michael looked up again, their eyes met and Michael shuddered. "Jeremy...." "Yes?" Jeremy answered hopefully. "You're the biggest damn furry I've ever met." For a moment Jeremy was too surprised to say a word and Michael took the opportunity to run away, laughing like an idiot. Jeremy screeched in rage (silently of course, they were still in the hallway) and followed that betrayer.

He found Michael in their shared classroom and his friend started giggling when he entered. He hunched over, shoulders shaking and kept his hand in front of his mouth to muffle  
the sound of his laughter. Jeremy plopped down in the chair right next to him and planned to shoot Michael a fake angry glare if he ever stopped laughing at Jeremy's misfortune. That plan went down the drain as soon as Michael looked up, eyes shining with mirth, cheeks flushed from amusement and a beautiful grin adorning his face. Instead of glaring, Jeremy felt himself staring at his best friend. The lesson started and the boys tried to follow it, but both were a bit distracted.

Jeremy was happy that it was lunchtime, until his whole group of friends had gathered at their table and Jake had decided to use "So about that voice kink of yours." as a conversation starter. Jeremy's cheeks instantly became redder and he violently took a bite out of his sandwich. Glaring at Jake he asked: "What of it?" Right next to him Michael nearly choked on a piece of bread. "Jeremy's what now?!?" he shouted loudly and Jeremy put his hands over Michaels mouth. "Shut it. I just found a new person to listen to on YouTube. That's it." "Suuuuuuure Jerry." drawled Rich and winked. Jeremy groaned loudly and kicked Rich underneath the table. "Stop it Richard."  
Rich nodded. "If it really bothers you, sure. Also, are you going to share the channel or not, because we are curious here Heere." Jeremy raised his eyebrow. "Original joke you've got there Goranski. Anyway, the channels name is LilRedHood. He uploads songs when people commission him for them." Brooke was the first one to find the channel and waved with her phone. "Which song should I put on?" After a short discussion in which one of Rich's nachos had ended up in Chloe's hair (don't ask) the group decided to put on She used to be mine, a song from the musical waitress. 

The song finished and a little silence fell over the squad. Then the shouting began. "Holy shi-" "You should've recommended him earl-" "He didn't fuck up the higher notes!" "He's good." "Voice kink confirmed and now I think I've got one too." That last comment got everyone's attention and Jeremy pointed at Rich and grinned. "Ha, take that Richard."  
Unfortunately for Jeremy, Rich was a quick thinker. "I'd love to take that Jere." Everybody groaned and Jake sighed dramatically. "Are my voice and body not enough for you Richard Goranski?" Rich's face softened and he smiled. Then he punched Jake's arm. "You know the answer to that Jakey-D."  
Right before the next period started, Jeremy vaguely realized that the only one who hadn't given his opinion had been Michael. Well if it wasn't Bob Marley, Michael probably wasn't all that interested.

"If you could let that one YouTube dude cover any song, which one would you pick?" Jeremy looked at Michael who was driving him home and thought about it. "Shit, that's a hard one... Maybe something that he himself likes or he has written. If he has written any songs at all of course. Why?" Michael shrugged. "Everybody seemed pretty interested so..." He shrugged again. "Trying to keep up with the modern times huh?" He patted Michaels leg. "You're gonna have to try harder than that if you don't want to be mistaken for a time traveler from the nineties. Michael playfully shoved him. "Shut up."

Another day at school started and Jeremy got greeted by a hurricane by the name Christine. "Jeremy! We've got a new play, well actually a musical, coming up! You're joining right?" He saluted. "Yes captain!" Christine saluted back and marched off, probably trying to recruit new people for the theatre group.

At lunch Christine cleared her throat and waved to get her friends' attention. "Guys, there's a new musical coming up. You are all auditioning, right?" Her hopeful smile nearly lit up the cafeteria and nobody wanted to disappoint her. The play group nodded dutifully and then Christine aimed her million watt smile at Michael, her voice turning as sweet as sugar and the boy froze like a deer in the headlights. "What about you?" He nervously played with his food and tried to look Christine in the eye. "I..." his voice died out and Jeremy took Michaels darker hands into his lighter ones. For some reason he quite liked the colours against each other. "Hey", he started softly. "You don't have to if you don't want to, we won't force you." Michael looked incredibly relieved at these words and Jeremy continued. "But it would be fun, wouldn't it?" He gave Michaels hands a light squeeze and joked: "We'll be even more together then." He looked up and simultaneously saw and felt Michael shiver. His friend untangled their previously intertwined hands, took a deep breath and then he nodded. "I'll...try. But please don't expect too much of me ok? It's just me..." Jeremy poked him. "It's not just you, it's you Michael. Don't insult my best buddy."  
For some reason Jeremy didn't understand Michael was getting more and more red. The teenager weakly gestured behind him. "I'm just gonna uhm go now." Michael awkwardly shuffled backwards and left, leaving the group behind. Confused Jeremy sat down. "What's wrong with Michael? Should I not have pushed him?" Jake groaned, Rich rolled his eyes and Jeremy swore he could hear Brooke whisper a quiet "Oh my god, is he serious?" and an ever quieter "He sure is." from Chloe. "I'm gonna help somebody with their gay crisis. My helpless-gay-dar is ringing." Rich said and walked away, leaving a very confused Jeremy behind. Chloe sniggered and Brooke patted his head. He looked at Christine for help but she shook her head and Jake just smiled cryptically at him.

The play was about a few adventurers in a fantasy, quest-like setting. The leader of the group was a girl and two males of the adventurers competed for her attention. Later it would be revealed that the girl was aro/ace and the boys were actually trying to impress each other. Jeremy snorted when he read the summary yet he realized that he actually really liked the plot. He decided to ask Michael who he was auditioning for and sent him a text. A few minutes later Michael responded that he wanted to play the role of Thélin, one of the guys who covered up his gayness by pretending to be straight. The choice kind of surprised Jeremy, because it was one of the three leads. He was happy that Michael would take such a big step and he texted back that he would audition for Khéane, the other 'straight' guy.

Audition day started and Jeremy learned that Rich en Jake were also auditioning for the roles of Thélin and Khéane. "Break a leg." he said sincerely and then paled. "Please don't take that literally Jake." Jake laughed. "I won't."  
The scene they had to act out, was a hard one. Mister Reyes had chosen their confession as the piece for the audition. Students weren't allowed to choose their partners, but luckily he and Michael got to do the scene together. He quickly shot him a wink from across the room and then focused on the auditions till it was their turn. Their names got called and right before entering the stage he squeezed a nervous looking Michaels hand and kissed it quickly. "Let's go break our legs!" He got an amused snort as answer.

"Why do you always do this? Do you really think she's gonna love you just because you happen to flex your muscles every time she walks past you?" Jeremy mockingly laughed at Michael. "Look at me, I'm Thélin with the bigass muscles." Michael sneered. "Like you wouldn't lick her heels just to please her." Jeremy bared his teeth. "At least I'm not half naked all the time." Oh Jesus, here came that part. He had seen it in the script and was actually curious about what Michael would do. Michael pulled his iconic red hoodie over his head and threw it away. He was wearing nothing but a black tank top underneath and smirked, came closer. His voice became slightly raspy and deeper. "Does my half nudity bother you that much?" Jeremy closed the distance and kissed Michael, not daring to go farther than just the touching of lips and yet he felt ridiculously excited. They parted and Jeremy purred: "No. I don't think it bothers me." He quickly stole another kiss and then the scene was over. A thunderous applause rolled over the two of them and broke whatever spell they were under and they stumbled off the stage. Michael awkwardly went back to retrieve his hoodie.

"Guys that was amazing!!!" Christine yelled and excitedly clapped her hands. Several heads nodded in earnest and Rich playfully bumped his and Jeremy's shoulders together. "That stage kiss was incredibly realistic bro." Shit. That was not a stage kiss, but Rich didn't need to know that. Subtly change the subject Jeremy, you can do that. "So what songs have you guys prepared?" The squad didn't notice subject change and started discussing their chosen songs. Jake sighed. "I hate that we had to search for a song that fit our character. After a while I got so tired of searching for a fitting song that I just learned the first song that I heard on the radio that day." "Which song was it?" "Take on me." Rich laughed his ass off while Christine started an in-depth analysis about how the song could fit Jake's character if he just looked at it this one way. Jeremy's gaze fell upon in Michael, who looked deep in thought. Then his head abruptly shot  up and he looked at Jeremy with a joyful twinkle in his eyes and a shit eating grin on his face. "I just had the best idea." Their whole group of friends looked at him expectantly but he leaned over and whispered something in Jeremy's ear, who promptly started laughing. "Let's do it." The two did their awkward but still endearing handshake and wouldn't let the squad in in their secret, no matter what they tried to bribe the two with.

Jake totally nailed his Take on me. Even if his choice of song was completely random, he made it work without sounding like a huge meme. Chloe and Brooke had teamed up (it was allowed to choose a partner for the singing audition) and sung Beauty and the beast (they were auditioning for a dragon shapeshifter and a princess who were also girlfriends). Christine went with This is me, because she thought it was a strong song that described her character (a girl that discovered she was aro-ace and that there was nothing wrong with that. She was also the kickass lead) pretty well. If Jeremy was going to be honest, Rich was probably the best out of all of them. How does a moment last forever had never sounded more vulnerable, honest, and sweet. Rich completely nailed both the melody and emotions. His dopey smile, teary eyes and voice that cracked in just the right places completely sold his performance. Sorry Celine Dion, you just got upped by Richard Goranski. "Man." Michael whispered. "Now I feel stupid about our plan." "There's no way we're gonna top that." Jeremy agreed. "But let's have fun, right?" Michael nodded and together they entered the stage again and sung The bro duet in a way that had a big part of the audience in stitches by the end of their performance. The first thing they did when they got off the stage was compliment Rich on his stellar performance. "Aw thanks dudes." Then he smirked. "The bro duet? Really?" The two of them smiled sheepishly. After that mister Reyes announced he would put the cast list on the door by the end of the week and kicked all of them out.

Everybody got the roles they auditioned for, except Rich and Jake. Mister Reyes explained that while he loved Rich's singing, he loved the chemistry between Jeremy and Michael more. He gave Rich the role of a young duke who got kicked out of his house for having a relationship with a boy from another rich household. Jake was a the son of a farmer who aspired to be a lawyer. With all the roles laid out, the rehearsals started.

"And I wish that... I wish that...ACHOO" Michael sneezed and Jeremy cracked up. "Yes?" He said with a smirk and Michael scowled. "Fight me asshole." Jeremy drew his brows together and put his hands in a clumsy boxing stand before him. "Let's go." Michael snorted and swatted halfheartedly at him. "Are we doing the rivals turned boyfriends thing right?" Jeremy poked his cheeks. "You know what? I think we're doing great."

During the break, Jeremy listened to a song that LilRedHood had uploaded yesterday and because he hadn't had the time to listen to it, he was doing it now. The singer had actually written this song himself and the description stated that he was very emotional about Thalia's tree and had written a song about it from Grover's perspective. Although Jeremy had absolutely no idea who these people were, he enjoyed the song and the fact that LilRedHood was enough of a geek to write a song about books. Jeremy remembered that Michael was a fan of the Percy Jackson books and wondered whether he should ask to borrow them. "Break's over! Get your asses over here, we have a play to rehearse!" 

Participating in an event with their entire group of friends was fun, but it left very little time for Michael and Jeremy's weekly video game nights. One Thursday Jeremy decided that enough was enough and promptly went over to Michaels house. Maybe he should've called first, but they had been friends for twelve years and at this point nothing about Michael would faze him anymore. At least so he thought. When he arrived in Michaels basement (the teen in question had once given him a key of his house) he saw Michael asleep in his beanbag and a very expensive looking mic on his desk. Curious he crept closer. What would his friend need a mic like that for? Well, Michaels computer was heavily secured and Michael himself was asleep. If he wanted answers, he had to wake up the boy. He walked over to him and kneeled down next to his friend's sleeping form. "Hey Michael. Wake up." He softly poked Michaels sides and saw him stir. After a few moments, Michael sleepily opened his eyes. Drowsy and warm brown eyes looked up at him and the sight of a sleepy and comfortable Michael made Jeremy's heart swell. "Jere?" Then his eyes shot open and he fell to the ground. "Oh my god, Mikey are you alright?" Michael scrambled to his feet and put his glasses on his face. "Yeah dude, but give a guy a warning next time, would ya?" Jeremy nodded and then he waved his hand in the general direction of Michaels desk. "What do you need that mic for?" Michael looked panicked for a second but then he smiled. "It's for my asmr channel." Jeremy looked at him incredulously. "You're lying." "You're right." Michael deadpanned. "I upload videos of me reading fanfic, to prepare for the play." When he saw Jeremy's disbelieving look, he threw a remote controller at him. "Who cares what I do with that thing? Let's just play some video games dude." Jeremy dutifully agreed.

One thing Jeremy noticed during the rehearsal of the songs they would sing in the musical, was that he loved Michaels singing voice. At their audition he hadn't noticed because of the nerves and because he was trying very hard to not crack up. But now, especially during Michaels solos he could fully appreciate his friend's vocal abilities. He wondered how he never noticed them while Michael was singing along to Bob Marley in his pt cruiser. Maybe it was because he never took the time to probably listen to Michael. He should do that more, because it always ended in his favour. Michael sounded like hot chocolate milk, drunk next to a fireplace in a wooden cabin. In Jeremy's mind this analogy made sense. He sounded warm and rich, homey, welcoming and oh god, Jeremy could listen to him singing all day. He should ask Michael to record himself singing. His friend should get a YouTube channel. He would get a crazy amount of subscribers in no time. Completely sure of this, he told Michael so, who almost choked on a cookie he had been eating.

During rehearsal Jeremy caught himself doing things he normally wouldn't do. Especially on stage. He would touch Michael a lot more, stand a lot closer than usual and he caught himself sending him smoldering looks several times. Right now they were running through a scene were their characters were aggressively complimenting each other because the other characters had bet that they couldn't be nice to each other. Jeremy had the hardest time keeping the aggression in his voice instead of straight up telling Michael how amazing he was. (He doubted that there would be a lot of straight up telling involving him and Michael).

The musical had been a blast and the reviews they had heard from students and parents alike were positive, so everyone at the cast party was in an exceptionally good mood. Someone had put on some sappy love song from Ed Sheeran and Jeremy walked over to Michael, who had been talking with mister Reyes. He made a silly bow and winked. "Dance with me?" If this was anybody else, he wouldn't have dared to even consider asking them to dance with him. The thing was, Michael made everything easier and better. School, stress, anxiety, after effects of the squid, Jeremy's mood, Jeremy's days...all of these things could be easily improved with a sprinkle of Michael. The corners of Michaels eyes crinkled as he gently smiled. He made an evenly silly bow and almost knocked their foreheads together. "How could I refuse such an offer?" 

So close from the Enchanted soundtrack started playing and Michael softly sang along in Jeremy's ear. He shuddered and pushed their bodies a little bit closer. In his voice he recognized the same sad acceptance that LilRedHood used in his cover of this song and he finally knew the identity of his favourite youtber. The thing was, with Michael looking in his eyes, twirling him around and singing about inevitable rejection while looking like he wanted nothing more than to press their bodies closer, until they could barely make out where one body started and ended, so close that they had no choice but to kiss each other, was not what Jeremy wanted. He took matters in his own hands, stood still and let his fingers trail from Michaels arms who had previously embraced him. He softly dragged his fingernails over the side of Michaels neck, felt him shudder and let his fingers glide over Michaels lips, who were still singing about an almost happy ending, still too afraid to hope otherwise. He then replaced his fingers with his own lips and kissed Michael, felt the sharp intake of breath right before their lips met, felt all the tension drain out of his body, saw him shiver with utter delight. They almost immediate pulled back, a bit overwhelmed because of so much happening so fast. Then Michael closed the space between them and this time they kissed properly. With both their lack of experience it should've sucked, but twelve years of friendship and a good amount of years spent longing for each other made up for it. The raw want stole their breaths away, the heat was dizzying and the overload of emotions made Jeremy's water. When they pulled back, he saw he wasn't the only one. "God, why are we crying?" Michael sniffed. "Because we are huge ass losers who don't do feelings very well." "True. What we apparently can do very well is keeping secrets from each other. Why didn't you tell me you had a YouTube channel?" Michael looked away with red cheeks. "I thought it was kind of embarrassing." Jeremy took Michaels hands in his and briefly pecked him on the lips. "Well guess what, no more lying and hiding in this relationship. My therapist says it's bad and besides that, I want to be honest with my boyfriend." Michael grinned happily. "Boyfriend? I like that. Also good communication, love that shit." With that, they left the party, hands still clasped together, faces flushed and bodies pressed closer than ever.

**Author's Note:**

> Hey Y’all, this is my first fic and it was written around two in the morning so if there are any typos, feel free to put them in the comments.


End file.
